Notre Dame football: Did Irish forget who they are?

Eight weeks of an evolution process allowed the Notre Dame offense to forge an identity.

Run the ball. Smashmouth. Rely on the line and enjoy the view. Full-speed ahead.

When push came to shove — and it did an awful lot Saturday — the Irish football team put on a different face.

And nearly paid the price.

After running the ball down the throat of heavyweights Stanford, BYU and Oklahoma, the Irish succumbed to Pitt’s defensive pressure in their 29-26 triple-overtime escape.

Maybe that loss of familiarity contributed to the problem.

Notre Dame backs Theo Riddick, Cierre Wood and George Atkinson combined to run the ball 36 times for 166 yards, without running for a score.

Irish coach Brian Kelly turned the offense over to quarterback Everett Golson, once he returned from a sec-ond-quarter helmet jarring that precipitated his mandatory exit from the game for one play. One play turned into a couple series, that finally ended after an interception thrown by Tommy Rees.

One stretch, late in the third quarter that meandered into the fourth quarter, the Irish had 19 straight plays in which the running backs did not touch the football.

During that sequence, Golson threw 14 passes. Eight were completed for 64 yards and an 11-yard touchdown to TJ Jones. One ended in an interference call. Golson, who did a pretty good imitation of the wildcat, ran five times for 63 yards.

“(Pitt was) playing a lot of ‘cover one,’ (with) a moving front,” Kelly said. “We were having some problems inside blocking (defensive tackle Aaron Donald), in particular. We just felt if we could spread (Pitt) out, that would give us an opportunity to move the football down the field.

“We had 66 (offensive) plays last week against Oklahoma. We had 87 plays (in regulation, 104 all together) this week. We felt if we could spread it, we could hold on to the ball a little bit more with running Everett.”

“I don’t think (the Pitt pressure) affected the running game,” said Riddick, who finished with 85 yards on 22 carries. His TD came on a five-yard pass reception. “We were down most of the game. Running the ball, you’re just going to kill time.

“I think we have a good offense, in terms of passing. Those plays were called and we executed them.”

Between Golson and Rees, they threw the ball 53 times. Losing quarterbacks usually have a stat like that. Golson ran 15 times for 74 net yards, but it seemed like he had more attempts.

Notre Dame had two long first-half drives, possessing the ball for about 16 minutes, and had only six points to show for it. Running backs had 18 carries in those drives.

The Irish deficit was never great enough that it was necessary to scuttle what has been an explosive and effi-cient running game. Down eight early in the fourth quarter was hardly a time to give up on a proven commodity.

Crunch time featured a return to form. Riddick and Wood combined to run eight times for 30 yards in the overtime, though Wood’s fumble at the goal line nearly changed the entire trajectory of the Irish season.Though the deviation might have avoided some of the angst surrounding the dramatic climax, it turned out to be a formula that worked — again.

Will the lack of style points impact the immediate big picture? Kelly doesn’t care. His only focus is the goose egg next to the nine, and next week’s challenge in New England.

“This year, the way our guys believe in each other, they believe in their coaches, they believe,” said Kelly.

“They’ve won these games before. They believe they’re going to win. I just think it’s a great group of guys. The leadership is outstanding. We’ve got great competitors, and we’ve made some plays at the end that we needed to make.

“It’s more about this group and how they believe in each other and they believe in their coaches.”